“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
There was simply nothing more important to Dr. King and his followers than a guarantee that African Americans would be able to participate in the political decision-making agenda of our nation by being allowed to vote. Dr. King wanted a guarantee that no obstacle (poll taxes, literacy tests and otherwise) would be placed in the way of African Americans’ full participation in the political process.
When the Voting Rights Act Extension passed in the Senate (July 20, 2006) by 98 to 0, some members of the House balked about the passage of certain provisions rather believing that the South had reached a point where such monitoring was no longer needed because of improvements in race relations. “It was voiced by some local and national officials that the targeted oversight is no longer justified and is a relic of days when Southern states could not be trusted to treat all citizens justly.” In a country where human nature is subject to rapid change that is not always objective and not always for the good of all; it is imperative that one unanimous voice speaks for the nation to ensure that at least under the law there are provisions for all men to be treated justly. The Voting Rights Act need no extension, but must be a law with room for amendments as the times and the needs of the country will inevitably change. The Voting Rights Act is too critical and too urgent to the foundation of this nation to be left to the whims of individual states. The sanctity of Voting Rights must be preserved and enforced in a most unanimous way—as part of the laws of our nation. We are yet a young nation seething with hatred, misunderstanding and sometimes the inability to do what is right, the inability to spread justice equally. We are a nation fortunate from the blessings of our forefathers who understood that there needed to be a system of checks and balances. We are not ready in our infancy to be left to our vices, state by state, to deliver justice equally. Take caution that it was just last summer as the leeves gave way to forces so powerful that they rendered man and all of his technology ineffective. It was just last summer in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that we allowed justice to be unequal and uncaring to some for too many days. We are not ready. We cannot risk going backwards because the move forward is still too slow for too many. Tell me what you think - Ready or Not?
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